Lightroom Classic plugin · Mac & Windows
Gem Finder runs a small background process alongside Lightroom for the AI scoring. It starts automatically — you don't need to launch anything separately.
Download the zip from the link below. Once downloaded, extract it — you'll get a folder called
PixelOpsGemFinder.lrplugin
and a changelog file. The plugin folder is what Lightroom needs.
What's in the zip
Open Lightroom Classic and use the Plug-in Manager to point it at the plugin folder:
In the menu bar, go to File → Plug-in Manager
Click Add in the bottom-left corner of the panel
Navigate to where you extracted the zip and select the
PixelOpsGemFinder.lrplugin folder
The plugin should appear in the list with status Installed and running. Click Done.
Gem Finder runs a small background process (gem-companion) that handles the AI inference.
Because it's downloaded from the internet rather than installed via an app store, both macOS and Windows will ask you to confirm it's allowed to run.
macOS quarantines binaries downloaded from the internet. Without removing this, Lightroom will fail to start the companion and you'll see an error on first launch.
Before adding the plugin to Lightroom, open Terminal and run this command, replacing the path with wherever you extracted the zip:
This removes the quarantine flag from the entire plugin folder. It doesn't weaken any system security setting — it just tells macOS you've intentionally downloaded and approved this software.
If you already installed the plugin and are seeing an error:
gem-companion being blocked
Where Gem Finder stores its cache
~/Library/Application Support/PixelOps/GemFinder/cache.db
Scores are cached here so re-scanning already-scored photos is instant. Safe to delete if you want to clear all scores.
Windows SmartScreen may block gem-companion.exe the first time it runs, since it's a new executable without a long publisher reputation history.
When Lightroom first loads the plugin and tries to start the companion, you may see a SmartScreen dialog. If you do:
If Windows Defender quarantined the file before it could run, go to Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Protection history, find the blocked item, and choose Allow.
Where Gem Finder stores its cache
%APPDATA%\PixelOps\GemFinder\cache.db
Scores are cached here so re-scanning already-scored photos is instant. Safe to delete if you want to clear all scores.
Open the Library module in Lightroom. Gem Finder's panel will be in the left sidebar. When you see the scan controls rather than an error message, the companion started successfully.
Good sign
Panel shows scan options and a score threshold slider
Problem
Dialog: "companion could not start" — see step 3 above
No panel visible?
Check Plug-in Manager — the plugin may need to be re-enabled
PixelOpsGemFinder.lrplugin folder from wherever you extracted it
Scores written to your catalog as Gem Score metadata will remain even after uninstalling — they're stored in the catalog, not the plugin.
After a scan completes, scores appear as custom metadata. If the column isn't visible in the Library grid, go to View → View Options and enable the Gem Score metadata field, or check the Metadata panel in the right sidebar.
You can also filter by score using the Gems collection that Gem Finder creates automatically after each scan.
The AI model processes photos on CPU — expect roughly 1–3 seconds per photo on a modern machine. Apple Silicon is noticeably faster than Intel for this workload. Once a photo is scored it's cached, so re-scanning the same photos is instant.
Scanning runs in the background. You can continue working in Lightroom while it runs.
Close and reopen the Gem Finder panel — it will restart the companion automatically. Any photos scored before the crash are saved, so you won't lose progress.
On Mac, a crash log is written to /tmp/gem-companion.log — if you're contacting support, include this file.
The free trial covers your first 500 photos. To unlock the full catalog, purchase a license from the Gem Finder product page and enter it in the plugin's License tab in Lightroom's Plug-in Manager.
Email me and I'll help sort it out. Include your OS, Lightroom version, and the companion log if you have it.
hello@pixelops.me